Approximately 70 trade unionists from Britain and Iraq attended an all-day conference organized by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), held in its headquarters in London. Report by Eric Lee.
The event was preceded the evening before by a memorial meeting organized jointly by the TUC and the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) in memory of the IFTU International Secretary, Hadi Saleh, who was tortured and murdered in his home in early January by Ba'athist terrorists. Speakers at the memorial meeting included Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, Hadi's widow, Abdullah Muhsin, foreign representative of the IFTU, and David Bacon from US Labor Against the War.
The morning session featured speakers from the International Labour Office (ILO), the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), Labour Friends of Iraq (LFIQ) and the IFTU.This plenary session was followed by a series of workshops in which Iraqi trade unionists were able to speak directly to their British colleagues.
The Iraqi unions attending the conference included the IFTU, the Kurdistan Workers Syndicate, the Iraqi Teachers Union, the Iraqi Journalists' Union, the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions of Iraq, and the General Federation of Iraqi Trade Unions (GFITU), the national trade union centre controlled by the former Saddamist dictatorship.
In addition to representatives of the ILO and ICFTU, there were also delegates from two global union federations (the International Transport Workers Federation and the ICEM), and the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center. At least 16 British unions sent delegates, including the CWU, PCS, Unison, GMB, Connect, NASUWT, NATFHE, T&GWU, FBU, Amicus, Prospect, NUJ, TSSA, NUT, RMT, and Community. In a least two cases, these unions were represented by their general secretaries (NATFHE and RMT).
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